I wrote a short piece for the Observer on the attacks in Manchester. observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

All of these agents engaging in assault and worse need to be prosecuted. They must surely have some understanding that they are breaking the law and violating people’s civil rights, which is why they wear masks and refuse to identify themselves.

If that’s what he thinks I’m glad - but he needs to sack his entire comms team and the people who are briefing ministers. Because that is not the message that is coming across at all.

Hegseth is a weapons grade idiot. Insulting the intelligence and dignity of all the people he pointlessly summoned there, especially all the female and non-white officers present. He doesnt have a clue what leadership is. I don’t think they will look kindly on the experience.

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

As I was saying…

superb column from @stephenkb.bsky.social “racism does not diminish through rising GDP but through the willingness of politicians to argue against it….” www.ft.com/content/fbbd...

Excellent piece, spot on. Party leaders across the spectrum need to wake up, fast.

Let's face it, it's not often I get to say nice things about what's happening in criminal justice. But the Sentencing Bill, up before the Commons today, is an exception! It's not perfect, but there's lots to like and the gov should hold firm against pressure to water down proposals. 🧵

Musk citing Orwell while being interviewed by BNP guy - you cant make it up

Feels to me like we should spend less time talking about Reform's threat to Labour (they fish in very different ponds) and more time talking about how Reform might be about to kill the oldest and arguably most electorally successful centre-right party in the world.

Steinbeck, surely? Love Raymond Carver. Milo isn’t worth a single word any of these wrote, not even the ones they scribbled out or erased and then crumpled up and threw away.

I wonder if the thing that’s finally going to wake up Democrat establishment politicians is when the grassroots donations and volunteer hours start piling into their primary challengers…but will it be too late by then…?

The current free speech ‘debate’ is so phony. You don’t have the right to say whatever bigoted crap you want without people telling you you’re a bigot and socially ostracising you. And you don’t have the right to defame, threaten and incite without potentially facing legal consequences. Grow up.

Why is the MP for Clacton even there? Parliament is back in session. Shouldn’t he be voting on a Bill, reading some policy documents, or having a constituency surgery - in other words doing the job British taxpayers pay him to do?

After his political movement built an entire ideology around allegations of sex trafficking amongst powerful people, which radicalised unstable people with guns while not caring one jot about the actual victims, Trump now says it’s a ‘Democrat hoax’. Got it.

He looked even worse than usual. Strip away the ridiculous hair and make up and he could be a member of the last Soviet Politburo.

Why does British media just uncritically relay these absurd Trump press conferences? It’s a bunch of rambling lies, threats and make believe, delivered to fawning hand picked ‘journalists’ from crank outlets asking softball questions to massage his ego. It’s not news, it’s a propaganda exercise.

"Bluntly, if the government cannot make the point that it is a bad idea to give money to the Taliban, it is far from clear to me when a better opportunity to attack Farage is going to present itself."- on.ft.com/3HKB1zO via @stephenkb.bsky.social

A crazy man in a ridiculous hat is talking about how much ‘gold paint’ costs - just another Friday in the Oval Office

Wut…is a ‘pre-war’…?

What is it about SF and Silicon Valley culture that has turned so many tech people into complete freaks? Were they always freaks? Or did the city break their brains? I feel sorry for the kids.

BUB - Big Ugly Bill

This was obviously a catastrophically stupid idea from the outset.

3rd rate war criminal sharing the stage with the person who’s supposedly the most powerful person on earth (but in reality acts like a 2nd rate used car salesman) of COURSE he’s happy

I hope #Chiesa stays at @lfcr.bsky.social he’s a player with a unique capacity to surprise and do the unexpected as he showed tonight - even off the bench - he needs a chance #YNWA

They basically sent a swat team to arrest sandwich guy.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a... > it’s not a ‘crime crackdown’. It’s propaganda and intimidation normalising the presence of the military in major US cities

They don’t want history they want propaganda.

Regardless of whether you agree with his politics or not, or his policy resonance outside NYC, this dude is a political ninja

The worst single-day crime spree in modern Washington history, of course, took place on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump issued no order to the National Guard to intervene -- Mike Pence did -- and later pardoned the perpetrators.

Still going on about ‘letting the water come down to LA’. If Joe Biden had said anything remotely similar it would be wall to wall Fox coverage for weeks; CNN panel debates; earnest NYT opinions about invoking 25th amendment. But Trump’s derangement and delusional insanity now fully priced-in

It’s August, so of course we get another hatchet job article from the @telegraphnews.bsky.social attacking #charities - this time it’s Muslim groups. They can’t even get basic facts right. It has sadly turned from a respectable conservative outlet to another right-wing rag pushing culture war BS.

Seems problematic. What’s the next Great Recession going to look like when all this collapses?

Which group of idiots is the ‘medium’ group? a) the idiots who made the charts b) the idiots presenting the charts made by idiots c) the idiots reporting on the idiots presenting the charts made by idiots, or d) the idiots watching at home believing the charts made, presented and reported by idiots?

www.theguardian.com/business/202... ‘mounting inflationary pressures hitting households from a sharp rise in the price of food’ > no kidding. Trying to feed a family is getting harder all the time.

Because as everyone knows, the Columbia, Willamette, Rogue, Umpqua, Deschutes, Snake rivers all naturally want to flow ‘down’ to California, it’s just the California Governor stopping it 🤦‍♂️🙃🫠

⚒️ 🧪 A M8.8 earthquake just ruptured the subduction zone offshore Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula. This is one of the world’s truly huge earthquakes, and a triggered tsunami is currently traveling across the Pacific ocean. This same fault ruptured on July 20th in a M7.4, and last August in a M7.1.

Israel's far right wants to conquer and settle Gaza, expelling any Palestinians in the way. Benjamin Netanyahu wants to stay in power. I wrote about the corrupt political bargain that is prolonging Gaza's war and driving its hunger crisis, and all the decisions that led here. Gift link:

Guessing you are not far from Machynllech

Overtourism has become a problem in several parts of Wales and there are fears things could get worse > it’s well past time to institute a park entrance pass/fee for Eryri / Wyddfa as happens in many other countries - current infrastructure cannot handle the load

www.thedailybeast.com/trump-kept-g... > we really are in the dumbest timeline ever

This guy is spouting the most absurd and crazy conspiracy nonsense - and he’s one of the most powerful people in the US government. 🤦‍♂️

variety.com/2025/film/gl... > serious sounding title but the interview is lit

www.cnbc.com/2025/07/11/t... > I see the Presidential stock market pump and dump taco tariff grift is back in action again

Every American should read this ACLU lawsuit about what is happening in Los Angeles and California. It is the stuff of dystopian nightmares. This is not immigration enforcement. It is positively stuffed with videos and articles documenting racial profiling on a scale unseen since Jim Crow.

We are seeing major risks of AI curated ‘information’ unfold in real time. 1. It’s not objective and clearly vulnerable to replicating the biases of owners and developers 2. In trawling an internet full of garbage information, it risks further codifying and mainstreaming garbage information.

So the Federal Gubmint is all right with these people when it’s bringing a grotesquely militarized force into a major US city to round up and incarcerate brown people, against their basic rights, and against the wishes of the citizens of that city. Got it.